If you’re a drone operator, or—excuse us—an aerial cinematographer living and working in the United States, you’ve likely been following this DJI drone ban story as it’s been evolving over the past year. For a quick catch-up, the FCC has added DJI and all foreign-made drones to a “covered list,” which effectively bans the sale of new drones by the company and other foreign ones here in the US.
This drone ban hasn’t extended to every DJI drone, though, and it’s allowed previous models to continue operating, just not new models being released and sold here.
Yet, that all might change even more as the FCC has put out a new “fact sheet” that seeks to further take “action to secure the drone supply chain” here in the states. Here’s what we know so far, including what DJI drones could now be in the FCC’s crosshairs.
The DJI Drone Ban Latest
Again, to recap, as it currently stands, the FCC has added DJI and all foreign-made drones to a “covered list,” which effectively bans the sale of new ones in the US. DJI has been fighting this as hard as it can, but at this point it seems the Chinese-based company has given up and, possibly in retaliation or to err on the safe side, has decided to pretty much stop releasing any new products it has in the US.
This means non-drone DJI products like gimbals, action cams, and microphone systems are not being released in the US. Or, if they are, DJI is being quiet about it. There’s also a whole other direction to explore where it looks like DJI is effectively white-labeling its products under different names, but that’s a whole different can of worms.
Regardless, this new FCC document makes it look like things might be ramping up here, and, based on the doc itself and other reports online, many are starting to worry that the effective drone ban might be expanding.
Credit: DJI
“Military-Grade Drones” Are in the Crosshairs
Now, without getting too much into editorializing here, from the FCC “fact sheet,” it does look like the commission is looking to simply ban the commercial sale of foreign-made military-grade drones in the US.
Of course, on paper, that makes sense, we guess, but as many online have pointed out, this definition of “military-grade” looks quite broad and could be used to cover many DJI drone products, which certainly don’t seem to be military in nature or grade.
This move would be a major step up for the DJI drone ban, as it could target DJI drones that had previously been approved and remove them from stores. LiDAR drones are also in the crosshairs, which—again—covers many drone models and ones that clearly don’t appear to be military.
Credit: DJI
What’s Next?
So, the big worry here is that this DJI drone ban could be ramped up and possibly expanded to cover models that had previously been fine to use, like the DJI Mini 5 Pro.
It’s hard to say whether and when this next level of the ban might be implemented or take effect, but we’ll do our best to stay on top of this story. You can also read the full FCC document here for context.
- How the DJI 'Drone Ban' is Affecting Way More Than Just Its Drones ›
- DJI Still Excluded as FCC Grants Conditional Approval to Several Foreign Drone Models ›
- DJI Responds to Drone Ban and Asks for Support From Its US Customers and Fans ›
- A DJI Commissioned Independent Audit Finds “No Security Basis” for Its Effective Drone Ban in the US ›
- DJI Drones Avoid Congress Ban, But Still Face Commerce Department Concerns ›
